Until You Fall I Can't Save You
by Livin4Jesus
Summary: When you fall, a brother picks you up. When you can't go on, a brother carries you the rest of the way. When it becomes too much, a brother holds you while you cry. One-Shot. No Slash.


**A/N I know I should be working on ****_It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time _****and ****_Never Again _****but I was going through my documents and found this one-shot that I wrote last year and I figured I might as well post it instead of letting it sit on my computer. Also, I know it gets kind of sappy toward the end and I apologize for that. Below are the three prompts that inspired this. Hope you guys like it! :)**

**Prompts: **

"You need to stop this," he told Tony, eyes deadly serious. "Don't you get it? We don't need you because you're Iron Man. We need you because you're _you._"

"Look, I get it. You guys have tried but you can't keep cleaning up my messes anymore."

"You're running because you're scared that if you stop, you won't want to start running again. And I get that, but how long do you think you can keep running by yourself?"

**Until You Fall I Can't Save You**

_A friend is someone who can see the truth and pain in you even when you are fooling everyone else.~ Unknown_

Today was a bad day. It was one of those days when no matter what they did, they just couldn't save everyone. And this time it was all Tony's fault. At least that's what _he_ believed.

They had been sent out on yet anther call, concerning yet another crazy bad guy, who was trashing the city and threatening lives.

They had arrived to find some guy and his henchmen on a bridge, shooting energy weapons at people as the innocents fled. With precise and coordinated movements, the six of them began taking out the shooters and escorting the civilians to safety. During the course of the fight one of the energy weapons hit a van full of kids, sending it skidding across the bridge. The van came to a stop teetering half-on and half-off the bridge.

Tony was closest, so he took off toward the van intending to pull it back onto the bridge. On his way there, he saw a shooter hidden behind some wreckage. The man had an energy weapon and was aiming it directly at Steve. Tony shouted a warning but the blue clad Avenger couldn't move fast enough.

The blast hit Steve square in the back and sent him crashing to the ground. For any normal man the hit would have killed, but for Steve it had just injured him, albeit badly. The shooter lined up for another shot. Tony knew Steve couldn't survive another hit, so he diverted his path, believing he would be fast enough to take out the shooter and save the kids. He took out the shooter with one shot, then rocketed toward the van again. Unfortunately, he was just a few seconds too late. The van tipped forward and toppled off the bridge, sending it's occupants plunging a hundred feet to their deaths in the water below.

Currently they were all in the meeting room on the helicarrier, for their debriefing with Fury. They had taken out the rest of the hostiles without any further loss of life. Steve had been checked out by the medics on scene. Thanks to his accelerated healing he was recovered enough that he wouldn't have to spend the night in the infirmary. The medics had also confirmed what Tony had originally thought. Had Steve been hit with another of those beams he would have died, super-soldier serum or not.

The others kept sending Tony worried glances. The billionaire hadn't spoken since the incident on the bridge and they could all feel the pain flowing off him in waves.

Tony, for his part, was lost in his thoughts. His mind kept going back to the mission. He had had to make a choice. Cap or the kids. He thought he could do both. He thought he was fast enough. But he could only save one and he had made his choice. It wasn't that he regretted saving Cap. Steve was his friend he couldn't regret saving him. He regretted not saving those kids. Although he knew it hadn't been possible to do both, he still couldn't help but feel responsible. He couldn't help but feel that there was _something _he could have done to change the outcome.

Everything inside of him screamed that this was his fault; that those kids were dead because he wasn't good enough; that those kids' blood was on his hands.

More blood on his hands; what else was new? He had plenty of blood on his hands already. What was some more? The questions swirled bitterly in his head.

Not only did he fail those kids but he failed his team as well. He had nearly gotten Steve killed. He should have seen the shooter sooner. He should have taken him out sooner. Steve should never even have gotten hurt. Tony's thoughts were becoming irrational and completely unfounded but he was too deep in his self-loathing to recognize that fact.

_What about next time? What if next time I am too late again? Will I get one of my friends injured again? Or maybe next time I'll get them killed. _Tony thought. _I can't do this anymore_. _I won't be the cause of a friend's death. Not again._

Scenes of a man dying in a cave from half a dozen bullet holes, flashed through his mind.

_Not again, _he silently vowed.

His mind made up, he turned and began to walk out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Fury asked from behind him.

"Home," Tony said, without stopping.

"We're not done here," Fury stated.

"I am," Tony threw over his shoulder.

"Stark you are part of this team, which means that you are not finished here," Fury said in a commanding tone.

Tony finally stopped and turned around, a hard, angry look on his face. "You know, I'm tired of this little boy band. I'm out."

"What do you mean, 'you're out'?" Fury asked, his eyes narrowing.

"I mean I don't want to be a part of your little club anymore. I quit," Tony said and walked out of the room.

Before anyone could stop him he exited the helicarrier and flew off.

**)()()(**

The silence was deafening. The team knew exactly why Tony had left. They knew he was blaming himself and they knew he needed their help. Getting him to except their help, though, was another issue. No one said anything for a long moment until Fury opened his mouth to speak, but Clint cut him off before he could.

"We'll take care of this," the archer said. The others nodded and as one they exited the room without another word.

They boarded a quinjet and took off after Tony. Once they arrived at the tower, a concerned sounding Jarvis informed them that Tony was in his lab.

"I'll go talk to him," Clint said as he made a b-line to Tony's lab.

The others hung back. They all cared about Tony and they knew he was hurting. They wanted to help but at the moment Clint could help Tony more than they could. If anyone could get through to him it was Clint. So they all stayed there, offering Tony their support from a few rooms away.

Clint made his way towards Tony's lab. He understood what Tony was going through more than the others. He knew that feeling of self-loathing and what it was like to feel responsible for something terrible. He knew that feeling of needing to run away so he couldn't hurt anybody else and so he himself didn't get hurt. Clint knew all of this, because he had been there before. He also knew that Tony needed someone to help him, but one of the things Tony and Clint had in common was how hard it was for them to let someone else share their burdens. Clint knew what it was like to not want to lean on someone else, to not want to unload his problems on another person, to not want to let his weaknesses show to others. But he also knew that sometimes when somebody fell they just couldn't pick themselves back up without help.

He entered the lab to find Tony out of his suit and working furiously on some device. Clint leaned against the wall and silently watched as Tony's movements became faster, almost more desperate, and definitely more clumsy. Suddenly, with an angry, agonized yell, Tony flung the device across the room. It crashed into the wall and shattered into pieces. Tony stood beside one of the tables, his chest heaving as he stared at the wreckage.

"Hope that wasn't important," Clint said. He pushed off the wall and walked closer to Tony.

Tony started at the sound of Clint's voice, but he didn't turn around.

"What are you doing here? Didn't you get the memo? I quit," Tony said as he began fiddling with something on the table, keeping his back to Clint.

"You can't leave," Clint stated as if it was a fact (which to him it was).

"Watch me," Tony shot back.

Clint moved around until he could see Tony's face.

"We need you," Clint said catching Tony's eyes.

"No, you don't. You'll get along just fine without Iron Man," Tony said flippantly.

"You need to stop this," he told Tony, eyes deadly serious. "Don't you get it? We don't need you because you're Iron Man. We need you because you're _you._"

Tony turned his back to Clint once more, under the guise of picking up a tool from another table.

"Look I get it. You want me around, but I'm not good for this team. You guys have tried but you can't keep cleaning up my messes."

"Tony, that's what family does," Clint said softly.

"We're not a family," Tony said but his tone sounded halfhearted even to himself.

"Even you know that's not true."

"It doesn't matter. I'm not family material. I'll only ever let you guys down and maybe get one of you killed in the process."

"What happened today wasn't your fault," Clint said with absolute conviction.

"Don't say that!" Tony exploded whirling around. His eyes flashed with anger and pain as he stared at Clint.

"Its the truth," Clint said, calmly meeting Tony's intense gaze.

Tony turned back around. He clenched his hands into fists and stared at the table in front of him.

"There was nothing you or anybody else could have done that would have made a difference. Running away won't help anyone. Not you and certainly not us," Clint added.

"I'm not running away," Tony said defensively.

"Yes, you are. You're running because you're scared that if you stop, you won't want to start running again. And I get that, but how long do you think you can keep running by yourself?"

Tony's jaw tensed as he gritted his teeth.

"Tony, we care about you and we want to be here for you. Why won't you let us?" Clint whispered.

"I can't- I…"

"You can," Clint said as he walked over to stand in front of him. "You can let yourself fall, because we'll always be there to catch you. Just let go. Let us catch you, Tony."

For the first time in a very very long time, Tony broke. His walls crumbled and collapsed into dust. Sobs shook him and without thinking about it he reached out to Clint. Clint wrapped his arms around Tony's shoulders and held him close. Tony clung to Clint like his life depended on it. He buried his face in Clint's shoulder and let the tears stream down his face.

He cried. He cried for the ones he hadn't saved and he cried for the ones he couldn't save. He cried for Yinsen. He cried for those kids. He cried for all the things he had never let himself cry for. He just cried, there in the safety of the arms of one who had become his friend and his brother. For quite possibly the first time in his life, Tony Stark let go and trusted someone else to catch him.

Clint didn't say anything. He didn't need to. He just needed to be there and he was. He was there, offering his silent support for as long as Tony would let him.

Eventually Tony cried himself out and let go of Clint but stayed within arms reach.

"You know, its going to be all right," Clint said squeezing Tony's shoulder. "And until it is you can lean on us. We'll always be here Tony. You can't get rid of us even if you want to."

"I know," Tony said with a slight smile. "You're all like boomerangs, you throw them away but they always come back."

"You better bet on it," Clint said, returning the smile.

And just like that Clint knew everything would be okay again. Maybe not that day or the next but eventually it would be all right. There would be other times in the future when Tony and the others alike would hit their lowest points, but they would always have their friends to fall back on. After all they were family, and family is always there for each other.

_Family consists of the people who rejoice with you in your happiest moments and hold you in your saddest. When you grieve they are there crying right along with you and when you're angry they help you destroy the furniture. Families are not made by blood. They are made by love.~ Unknown_

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**Let me know what you think! :)**


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